The nascent Black Television News Channel, based at Florida A&M University, is slowly getting closer to going on the air.

Representatives from Sony are scheduled to be on campus next week in preparation for major renovations to the broadcast studios in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication. BTNC co-manager Bob Brillante said he expects the network will be on the air by August 2015.

BTNC is the brainchild of former Republican Congressman J.C. Watts, who has partnered with Florida cable TV veteran Brillante to create a CNN-like 24-hour international network that targets African American viewers.

FAMU signed a contract with BTNC in March that does not require the university to invest any money in the network and guarantees FAMU income, internships for its students and opportunities to showcase the university’s academic and other programs such as its acclaimed marching band.

FAMU President Elmira Mangum described the public-private partnership between the university and BTNC as ideal and exactly what the state’s universities are striving for.

“Ir represents an opportunity for us to expand our communications and our journalism program exponentially,” she said. “It will give our students a chance to have exposure to the latest technology in their field. I don’t think there’s a down side of any kind to this.”

Mangum was in Washington, D.C. last week to meet with Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio as state Rep. Steve Southerland, asking them to support BTNC’s request for a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission. BTNC is seeking a place on the public interest band-width space with Direct TV and Dish Network but it also wants to have a limited amount of commercial advertising, which is not normally permitted.

“News gathering on a national and international scale is quite costly,” Brillante said. “We want to sell a limited amount of advertising to help cover our costs.”

BTNC, created in 2008, had an agreement with Comcast that is in jeopardy now that Comcast is in merger discussions with Time Warner, Brillante said.

Watts and Brillante had been in talks with FAMU administrators since 2012. The first public discussion of the network took place at the August 2013 meeting of the board of trustees, during which Watts projected an August 2014 on air debut for the network.

“The schedule has slid a little bit, but that’s to be expected and we’re still on track,” Ann Kimbrough, dean of FAMU’s journalism school, said. “This is going to be good for our students, good for our graduates, good for our university.”

Two minutes of every hour on the BTNC will be devoted to FAMU and other historically black colleges and universities, Kimbrough said. She was a guest earlier this month at the annual HBCU Digest Conference, where she gave an update on the new network.

Watts said last August that Sony will be bringing in more than $10 million in equipment for FAMU’s re-engineered broadcast studio.

Mangum said BTNC will be asset for the entire community. A 2012 report by the Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis at Florida State predicted a $33 million annual economic impact as a result of BTNC.